The Oyo State commander of the Nigeria Hunters Council, Comrade Taoheed Olanrewaju, has disclosed that the armed men who attacked Abolongo Custodial Centre in Oyo State on Friday disguised in black dresses and masks to hide their identities.
Speaking on Sunday when the Nigerian Tribune was at the prison, Olanrewaju said he was called by his men at about 9:55p.m. that there were gunshots at Abolongo Custodial Centre.
He said: “I mobilised the men and got there at 10:23 p.m. We met many security operatives who had been shot. We rescued those we could.
“From where we laid, we could see them (gunmen) wearing black dresses and black masks. I saw up to 50 of them. One could see that they were well trained.
“We knew they might want to flee through the back of the prison yard, so I told six of my men to go there and lie in wait.
“As they silently moved, they sighted some of the attackers approaching and fired shots at them, bringing down two of them.
“But unknown to them, some of the attackers had laid in the surrounding bush and fired shots back at our men, killing two of them also.
“On my side, I neutralised four of the attackers and also shot at the four tyres of one of the vehicles brought, but all the dead were taken away by the gang, while they also drove the bus away with its deflated tyres, with its doors left open. They were able to go with the bodies since there was no one to help me.”
On whether he could recognise the attackers and their origin, Olanrewaju replied that he did not know, adding that anyone saying that he could guess their tribe in the dark would be lying.
“We saw them leading three men from the custodial centre. The men were protected in the front, back and both sides as they were being led them away.
“When the inmates were released, I was the one who rescued the head of the inmates and helped the correction officers to put over 200 in safe custody. By 4:30 a.m., we were out again to Owode junction. I got four of the inmates in a truck going to Ibadan from Ogbomoso. We also found some android phones from them,” he added.
